A Second Chance At Happiness?
by MrsJagielski
Summary: Caught in a storm, exlovers have to make peace with the past to possibly ever have a future. A Leyton short.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: While I wish that it were not true, I do not own OTH, its characters, or its storylines...**

A Second Chance at Happiness?

An OTH Leyton Short

By

AlexB

1

"_Jesus! Oh, Jesus! Get out of the way! Go! Go!"_

He felt the warmth on his closed eyelids first. Then slowly, very slowly, as if her were coming out of the deepest of sleeps, he started to come awake. His eyes even went so far as to flutter. But try as he might, he couldn't get them open.

"Lucas?"

He knew that voice. The touch at his shoulder had him fighting even harder to open his eyes; to wake up. He didn't like where he was, he didn't like the way that he felt; scared, and defenseless.

"Lucas."

_I'm here! I'm here_! He wanted to shout the words, but he couldn't open his mouth to say them. _No!_ His voice screamed inside his head. He knew what was happening. He knew where it led. Whoever was talking to him sounded so far away and the voice continued to fade. He didn't want to go back. He didn't want to be alone anymore. He couldn't be trapped, any longer. He couldn't feel the light on his face anymore.

"_God in heaven, please help me," _he thought. _"Don't let it take me back."_

He came to a little later. His hand hurt. He tried to make a fist, but his joints wouldn't work. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton, and he was hungry. What he wanted was a pizza, but only after he brushed his damned teeth.

His eyes opened of their own accord this time. Everything was out of focus, like a blurry picture. He blinked the room into view then his eyes slowly moved around him. It wasn't that he was in a place that he didn't know. It was just a place that wasn't his.

The walls were white, and cloud in the sky blue. There were pictures of landscapes, and portraits of flowers on the walls. In one corner was a chair. It had one of those stuffed bears sitting on it. It wore a mini black and blue Ravens jersey, dark glasses and a backward cap. Lucas was too weak to even offer up a smile, but he remembered that bear. He'd won it for his mother at a school carnival his freshman year as a gag. He hadn't expected her to keep it, but she displayed the thing on her dresser. It wasn't until sophomore year that he noticed that the bear and his uncle had the same number. _For the two men in my life,_ she had said.

The room had two windows. The blinds on both of them were opened. Sunlight streaked across his body. He could feel the warmth on his face again, on his arms and his chest.

Felt good. Felt damn good.

His face itched, and he couldn't move his hands to scratch it. _What the hell was going on?_ When he looked and saw that he wasn't strapped down he started to get scared. Eyes searching the room wildly he tried to see if he really was alone. Seeing that he was, Lucas opened his mouth to yell, but stopped.

Pictures. Lots of them. Pictures of him, of his mom. Of Haley, Keith, and of Peyton. The picture of him and Peyton lying together in the snow caught his eye. He couldn't reach out and touch that perfect face, so he studied it with all the concentration he could muster. It was the only way he knew to calm himself.

He remembered that day.

It had been just before Christmas. The snow had come the night before. It wasn't really bad, but it had been enough to cancel school that day. The sun had barely been up when he had been out the door to see her. Man, she had some powerful hold on him. He didn't understand it. All he knew for sure was that he could barely stand to be away from her. Peyton, she never locked her front door, but he never used it. Instead Lucas stacked crates that sat beside the house to climb up onto the Sawyer garage and up to her window.

He had watched her sleep. Rain or shine, whether it was warm or freezing outside, she always kicked the covers off. Peyton never wore socks to bed either. They always got kicked off like her sheets and lost in the blankets, so she slept just in pajama bottoms and a tank-top. She never got up unless she had to, but she always left her window open for him. He lay in bed with her that morning until the sun had come all the way up and stayed that way until Peyton decided that it was time to get up and face the day.

A smile started on his face then. It was weak, and stopped dead in its tracks when Lucas's face was thrown back at him from the glass of the frame. His face itched because he had a beard, and his hair was so long it could be tucked back behind his ears. He looked like a man who had been trapped in the wilderness for decades.

"Lucas?"

At the sound of the voice, his eyes locked on the woman standing in the doorway. She stood there, her hand to her mouth as tears fell from her dark eyes. "Lucas! Oh, Lucas!" She whispered tearfully. "Oh, baby."

_Mom._

She sounded like she was both laughing and crying now. She took his face in her hands and smiled down at him. "It's about time you opened those pretty blue eyes."

If he had his way, Lucas would never close his eyes again.

"What can I get you? What do you need? The doctor?" She moved to leave, but he stopped her. She looked down at their hands on the bed. It wasn't a tight grip, only a touch from his hand to hers. That alone was enough to make her stay.

What did he need? Her, Lucas thought. He needed her. Instead he mouthed the word "water" once, twice, three times just to make sure that she knew what he needed. Out of nowhere she had one of those plastic hospital cups in her hand. It had a straw in it. He wanted to ditch the damn straw and take his water like a man.

He could hear it then. The water, rushing in his ears. All the sudden he was cold. So cold his whole body began to shake. It shook so bad, the water his mother held out to him fumbled, splashing all over him. It went up his nose and down his throat at the same time. He knew his lungs worked, as he coughed and gasped for air."

"Lucas? Luke, what's wrong?"

The water. It was everywhere. _Get me out!_ His scream echoed inside his head. _Get me out of the water!_

His mother was screaming now; calling for someone to help her. And instant later, he felt a prick in his arm and everything went dark.

When he opened his eyes again, it was night. His mother lay asleep in the corner chair, a blanket pulled up to her shoulders. The lamp was on next to him.

"Hey."

His eyes tried to follow the sound, and were rewarded when they had_. Haley._

She smiled back."Nice to see you still remember me._"_

_You're an unforgettable woman._

There were stars in her eyes. Her face crumpled as if she wanted to cry, but she wouldn't. She wouldn't let the tears fall.

_Hales._

"I'm okay." She sniffed her smile watery. "God, it's good to have you back."

He tried to force his body to move, but the most he could do was flex his fingers. He was starting to get real frustrated, and she saw that. She put a hand on his chest.

"Give it time, Luke. Give it time."

He looked at her with question in his eyes. Haley could always read his mind. He hoped to hell that she still had the magic to do it now.

"You've had your eyes closed for two years, Luke."

Two... _Two years? _That couldn't be right. Lucas looked at his friend like she had two heads. Two...

Haley only nodded. "Do you remember, Luke? Do you remember what happened?"

New Years. The party at the beach house.

"_Why do you keep letting him get to you? Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"_

"_You don't understand."_

"_I understand perfectly."_

"_I won't let him break me!"_

They always fought when it came to his brother. Nathan. He never missed a chance to try and get under Lucas' skin. And Lucas relished in his victory every time he didn't.

Nathan had got to him that night, and they fought. Outside in the snow and sand. He remembered the satisfying sounds of crushing bone and cartilage when he'd plowed his fist into his half-brother's face.

Jake. He remembered Jake and Skills. They had broken it up, pulled them apart. Then he and Peyton had argued. But Lucas hadn't been the only one who'd been fighting with his girlfriend that night. A guy named Marcus had been fighting with his girlfriend, too.

He was drunk and couldn't get himself home. Physically hurt and mad his damn self, Lucas had needed to get away from Peyton and the situation and offered to take the guy home. His ribs, he remembered had hurt something fierce. They'd been cracked, if not broken. Many people had tried to stop him from leaving that night, but he'd left anyway.

It had begun to snow. The windshield wipers weren't working, because he could barely see anything. They were at a red light. The car had stalled, and then stopped.

Screaming tires. People yelling.

"_Jesus! Oh, Jesus! Get out of the way! Go! Go!"_

Falling. He remembered falling. Then the water. He couldn't stop it from coming in. It was cold. So cold. So cold, it took his breath. It rushed up his nose and down his throat. He was drowning. He hadn't had a chance to get his breath.

_Here! I'm down here!_

Then nothing. No, not nothing. It was like he'd been standing outside his own body.

"He died, Lucas." Haley spoke quietly. "The car was hit on his side, killing him instantly. He didn't feel anything."

Not true, Lucas thought. Marcus had felt plenty.

Haley's voice hitched. "We didn't know if you were going to make it. You were under the water so long that when they found you, they thought that you were gone, too."

He was here, Lucas thought. He was here, and Marcus was dead. Lucas barely knew the guy, but the loss he felt was awesome. When he looked at his friend again, there was another question in his gaze. _Where is she, Haley?_ He wanted to know. _Where's Peyton?_

_One year later..._

He hated the snow. It was too damn cold, and it made his bones hurt. He was walking only marginally better than a ten month old. He had to use a damn cane to walk. Screw that piece of crap walker, and damn a wheelchair. A man had to have his dignity. And dignity was all that Lucas Scott had left. Even if there wasn't much of it.

As soon as he had felt himself able, he had taken himself out of that damn hospital and had been fending for himself ever since. His uncle had sold his place and was now living with Lucas's mother in the home that he grown up in. They had wanted him to stay with them, but Lucas hadn't wanted to be a third wheel. He hadn't wanted to be hovered over either.

He had enough TV dinners to last him to the apocalypse, and so many cans of chili, he was getting sick and tired of looking at them.

Being out on the outskirts of town away from all the people and the story was good though. It was helping him big time to not have to walk or drive past where it had all happened. Things had been repaired, yes, but Lucas still saw that night. He still saw the snow, the purple-pink sky, his breath on the air, and the headlights of the car that slammed into them.

Shaking himself from that memory, Lucas looked out about him. There was probably an inch of snow on the ground with more in store. The forecasts called for a storm. A really bad one that had him out here hauling enough wood in to last him. He knew for sure his power would go out. His pipes would more than likely freeze, too. He was prepared for that also.

On his third trip, something made Lucas stop. His mother had already called him. Haley had, too. So they wouldn't show up out here. He's specifically asked them not to. And he was seriously hoping that they listened. Lucas snorted at his thought, shaking his head. What he said when it came to them came in one ear, and went out the other. It was never like them to keep away when he asked.

When he came out of the house again twenty minutes later, he saw it. The car. Black and vintage. His eyes narrowed and his blood heated. No, he thought. Hell no. He was not about to do this.

"Back." He growled. Growling again, Lucas threw that log in his hand as far as he could. He was yet to be one-hundred percent but it was amazing what a little anger and irritation could do. "Back!" He yelled.

_Turn around and go back, _he thought_. I don't want you here._

He slammed into the house, locking the door with much satisfaction, behind him. She couldn't come in unless he invited her, and he wasn't mailing out any invitations. All that had needed to be said between them had been said without words. There was nothing left.

Lowering himself into his chair, Lucas gave into his anger once more and sent his cane sailing across the room. It hit the front door then fell to the floor unmoving. Hot tears pricked the back of his eyes, but he blinked them back, ordering them away

Hell, no, he thought once more shaking his head hard. God in heaven, he was not going back there. He would never be that person again. The Lucas Scott he used to be died that night in the icy cold water of the river. What was left, what he was now, it wasn't saying much, but it was who he was.

She didn't even knock. She just pushed the door open and stood there. Staring at him. Lucas watched in agitation as Peyton Sawyer pocket a set of keys.

_Who in the hell..? Get out_. "Out." He spat, punching a fist into the arm of his chair. _Go away._ "Go."

"Can't do that, babe." She replied, closing the door behind her. "Storm's coming in, and it's just my luck."

He didn't believe in luck. He didn't believe in fate. Lucas didn't believe in anything anymore, period. Because when you believed, you got kicked in the crotch. He liked his anatomy just fine where it was, thank you very much.

"Leave." One thought, one word. Hell of an accomplishment, if he did say so himself.

"I'm not going anywhere, Lucas. So just close your mouth and get used to it. We have some unfinished business."

"No!" He roared. "No...You..." Dammit. He elbowed the back of the chair hard as he could. "You..." He said more slowly than he liked. "Left. Made clear...that...you...want me." He pounded into the seat again. That was not what he wanted to say. "Don't." He got out. "Don't...want...me." She was shaking her head, and he was nodding.

"Lucas-"

"Lie to me, Peyton! Don't...lie."

"Are you going to let me speak?" He only glared at her raised brows. "You want to do this the hard way? Fine. I'm game. Get ready, baby. This place isn't big. You can't run from me here."

He jabbed a finger at her. "You ran." Well how about that. A complete sentence.

Lucas took no satisfaction at the wounded look on her face. It only lasted a split second before she pushed it away; putting it into one of those many locked boxes she had inside herself. He'd hated them then, and it grated that he still hated them now.

"I didn't run."

He snorted. "Needed-ed...You...Gone." Closing his eyes tight, Lucas tried again to make himself heard. "Weren't there."

It was true. Partly. She wasn't there, that he knew of. But she hadn't left him. She couldn't watch him go through what he went through everyday, and she was a selfish bitch because of it. She was a coward, too. But she hadn't left him. Every time he'd closed his eyes, she was there.

Bitterness turned his dark blue eyes almost black. His hair was growing out again. Wheat colored strands fell over his forehead. The short beard on his face was shades darker than the hair on his head. She liked it.

"I'm not leaving you now." She said to him. "You can try and leave, but I'll only stop you."

He tried to look through her the same way he would look through anyone else who didn't matter, but he couldn't. He took in that curly blonde hair, and thought about all the times he had his wrists buried in it. He thought about its softness, the way that it smelled. Her pale, apricot skin was so soft; it made him shudder just to think about it. And those eyes… Those yellow/green, orbs were something that he just couldn't describe the way that he wanted to.

For someone who was supposed to be so unsentimental, Peyton closed her eyes when she kissed. She kept her eyes closed a little afterward, like she was making a memory or something.

They were still staring at each other. Ex-lovers caught up in some awesome memories...when the lights went out.


	2. Chapter 2

A Second Chance at Happiness?

An OTH Leyton Short

By

AlexB

2

The storm was on them now. So wrapped up in the moment, they hadn't heard it coming. Howling winds pushed against the windows. The air inside the small dwelling was cold; cold enough that they could see their breath. Levering himself out of the chair, Lucas proceeded to make a fire to warm them. When Peyton moved to help him, he threw out a hand, looking at her over his shoulder.

"N-no." He got out. "Ca-can...do it."

She didn't want to step on his manhood anymore than she apparently had by being here, so she let it be. With the chip on his shoulder, Peyton didn't know how the guy could walk, let alone stand. His limp was still very much noticeable even a year after his accident. It was understandable. He'd killed himself to make it as far as he had. By all rights, Lucas shouldn't be anywhere near where he was now.

"What have you got to eat in this place?" He didn't answer, and she hadn't expected him to, but they needed nourishment. She was going to need all the strength she could muster, because the battle gates were about to be opened.

Peyton made due with the chili and the crackers in his cabinet. Seriously, the man had enough can goods to build a fortress. On the counter next to the sink was a small chalkboard. She ignored it, taking a pot full of cold chili a sleeve of crackers and two bowls with spoons into the living room. Lucas already had the fire going. He stood in front of it, leaning heavily on his cane. She'd put it just in his reach before she went for food.

He watched her. Firelight danced over her features as she held the pot over the fire that he had created. He didn't say anything, but he knew that she would. Peyton never kept quiet for long when he had something on her mind.

They got through their meal easy enough. When she came back from the kitchen, the gloves came off. "How long are you going to hate me, Luke?"

He shook his head. "Don't...hate." He couldn't hate her. He loved her too much even now. As pissed off as he was at her, he still loved the woman. It said something about him to be able to admit it, at least to himself. "Why...stop. Why...stop." He let go of a hard breath, his frustration building all over again.

"Here."

He looked over his shoulder to the small blackboard she was holding. Snatching it from her fingers, Lucas shot to his feet teetering, and then catching his balance. He threw the board into the fire with all he had. Flames shot up in the hearth. "Why did you stop loving me?!" He finally got out.

Peyton's hands froze. She'd been waiting to catch him if he fell. He hadn't. Lucas was too shocked at the words that had flown so evenly out of his mouth to do anything but stare.

"I didn't stop." She replied huskily. "I still do."

He didn't believe that. "Liar."

Her eyes snapped. "Don't tell me how I feel."

"Left...me."

"No-"

"Yes!" He shouted, angry tears of frustration blurring his vision. "Needed...y-you."

"I needed you, too." Her voice wrenched. "But I couldn't watch you like that."

"Weak."

"Yeah." She told him, wiping the tears from her own face. "I was weak, and I wish that I could take that back. But what's done is done. All I can do is say that I'm sorry and try to make it right."

Lucas shook his head. "Can't."

"Why," she wanted to know. "Because you say?"

"Can't...go...back." He sank back in his chair once more. He still got tired so easily. "Made...choice." He lifted his shoulders in defeat. "Wasn't...me."

"I'm sorry that you think that, but that's just not the way that it was. Is. I tried to come to you, remember? You pushed me away."

"After. Came...after."

"I was always there." She spoke quietly. "Just because you didn't see me, didn't mean that I wasn't there."

"Why hide?" He wasn't totally sure that she was being straight with him. The person he was before would have known if she had been there. He would have been able to feel her. The new him wanted to claim that, too, but couldn't. "Ash...ashamed?"

"At myself maybe," she laughed depreciatingly at herself. "But never of you, Lucas. Never of you."

"Look...me when...say...that."

Her eyes were fierce when she did. "Never of you." He didn't want to believe her, but he did. Why, he didn't know, and wasn't sure if he wanted to.

"Why wait?"

"To come here?

Lucas nodded.

She lifted a shoulder. "Isn't it obvious?" If she was referring to the weather, then yeah. They were going to be together for at least forty-eight hours. His cabin wasn't the first place out of town, but it was close enough that it wouldn't take long to get to him soon as the storm was done doing its thing. He just had to hold out until then.

As the night went on, they didn't speak to each other, but they were aware of one another. The whole time that he'd been killing himself to be a whole man again she had been there? Her words: _Just because you couldn't see me, doesn't mean that I wasn't there._

He found himself wanting to believe that to. Lucas wanted to believe with every fiber in his being that she had been there. Through heavy eyes he watched her. She probably thought that he was sleeping. _Let her_, he thought.

She was watching him out of those funny colored eyes. It was like she was studying him. It made his skin tingle in a way that it hadn't in a long time. He didn't want to feel that way toward her. That old way, so he held on to his mad. It was the only way he was going to survive the next coming hours.

Closing his eyes completely, he blocked her from his view.

"Luke?"

He didn't answer. _Let her think that I'm sleeping._

"_Women. Why...why do they feel that they need to control us? Whoa now." He laughed his body jostling as the car jerked. "What's the matter?"_

"_When's the last time you put oil in this car, man?_

"_When's the last time you did?"_

_Lucas shook his head. "See that red light?" He pointed to the dash. "That means you have no oil in your car either."_

"_Dat why it stopped?" Marcus's voice slurred._

"_No. It stopped because you don't have any gas either." Lucas laughed. "How-"_

_Screaming tires. Blinding lights._

_No._

"_Move now!" Marcus was yelling. "Move the car! Move the car! Drive!"_

"_Out of gas!" Lucas tried to yell over him. He didn't know why he was trying to start the damn car; they wouldn't be able to move. It was like he was frozen. His brain was telling his body to move. To go, to get out of the car. But he couldn't. Marcus was frozen to, watching the car that was coming at them. Then, in the last minute, he came to himself. Reaching over he grabbed the steering wheel and crushed his foot on-top of Lucas's to press down the gas pedal. But it was too late._

"_Jesus! Oh, Jesus! Get out of the way! Go! Go!" He screamed._

"Get me out of the water! Get me out of the water!"

"Lucas!"

"Get me out!" His words were slurred, and no matter how hard she shook him, Peyton couldn't wake him up. He kept screaming to be pulled out of the water, and there was nothing that she could do to help him.

_Please wake up,_ she chanted over and over again in her head. His hands tightened on her arms and the screaming stopped. Peyton found herself pinned to the hardwood floor with Lucas on top of her, staring down at her with sightless eyes.

"Lucas?"

When he blinked, she knew that he saw her. They were breathing hard, their chests rising and falling with their rapid breaths. Fire still crackled in the fire place, casting a glow on Lucas' face. His eyes were like deep blue crystals; deep blue flames that scorched her deep inside.

His head dipped, and her lashes lowered. He was going to kiss her. She waited, and waited some more. When nothing happened, she raised her eyes. He was still there, towering over her. The anger was back, but somehow Peyton knew that his anger wasn't at her. Not completely.

"Luke-"

"No...Not...good...idea." He said huskily. Peyton couldn't reply. Instead, she watched him and continued to lie there next to him after he rolled from on top of her. They lay side by side. After a beat, she rose. Lucas continued to lie face up on the hardwood floor. His face was turned slightly away from her.

She was throwing more logs on the fire when she heard him say something. "What?"

"Take...the...bed." He spoke slowly making sure that he got all the words out so that she wouldn't misunderstand. He wasn't spitting them at her. Peyton took that as a good sign.

"You can have the-"

"No." He said forcefully. "You."

She wasn't about to take the man's bed. She didn't want to be alone and she wasn't going to let him be either. But she did go into his room though.

Except for the essentials, the space was bare. The walls were white. There were pictures sat on his dresser of his family and Haley, and except for a shirt thrown over the back of a chair and a pair of socks on the floor, the room was clean. Two hard back books lay on the bed, and the computer in the corner, which sat on a desk older than the dresser, was sporting a thin layer of dust.

Setting the books on the bed aside, Peyton took the pillows and the comforter from the mattress. When she made it back to the living room, Lucas was standing. He wore jeans and nothing else. His shirt had been tossed into the chair behind him. His shoes and socks lay on the floor at the foot of the chair.

She remembered what he had looked like two years before when he had still been a boy. A lot had changed now that he was a man. No longer skinny and frail as he had been when he had first woken up. Lucas looked as if he had put at least twenty pounds since he left Tree Hill. It looked good on him. He was still lanky, but he had muscle. Each one on his chest, abdomen, shoulders and arms were well defined.

The light sprinkle of hair on his chest was burned gold by the firelight.

He spoke slowly. "What...are...y-you...d-doing?"

"What does it look like?"

He shook his head. "N-n-no, Pey-Peyton. No...Good."

"I'm not sleeping in that bed while you lay out her alone on the hard floor. "That fire isn't gong to keep you warm all night, and I seriously doubt that that you have extra blankets in this place to cover yourself up with.

She was right. He didn't. Why? What was the point? It was just him. He washed the set of sheets that he had every week, and put those same sheets right back on his bed.

Lucas didn't say anything more. She was going to do what he was going to do regardless. Peyton always did. He unfolded the sleeping back so that it lay flat. Taking the pillows from her, he tossed them on top. With both the quilt and their body heat, they would be okay. It would be enough. She was right. The fire would have only done so much.

He pulled the quilt back like he was turning down his own bed, and then waited.

Like him, Peyton lost the shoes. Under her blouse, she wore a threadbare tank. When she reached for the snap of her jeans, Lucas turned away. Lowering himself to the floor, he got into the pallet he had made for them. She followed him in seconds later.

The breath he pulled in was filled with her sweet spicy scent. Jesus, she still smelled the same.

"You have no idea how many times, how much; I wanted to crawl into that hospital bed with you." She spoke. "Would you have let me, Luke?"

When you loved someone, you were supposed to take the good with the bad. Peyton hadn't done that. She'd been there for the good, but not for the bad. "You...left...m-me." Was all that he said before falling into a deep and exhausted sleep.

Peyton, on the other hand, hadn't slept a wink. She instead laid there listening to Lucas sleep. She had left him, it was no lie. Even when she had been there, she hadn't. But when she did finally go back, he wouldn't have her, and she didn't blame him. Peyton hadn't been fair to him at all. She had been just as scared then as she was now. The only difference was that she wasn't going to let it stop her this time.

She'd left word with Haley that she was going to be out of town. She hadn't said where, and got into her car and drove. It hadn't been in her plan to come out here. But once she saw the cabin, she couldn't turn back. This day had been coming for a long time and neither one of them would have been able to stop it.

She threw another log on the fire then went back to lie down. Propped on an elbow, she looked down into Lucas's sleeping face.

How she had missed him, Peyton thought. And she had tried. She had tried real hard to move on. But it was impossible to give your heart to someone new when someone from before still had it.

She fell into a deep dreamless sleep of her own on that thought, and woke up the next morning feeling warmer than she had in a while.

Mm, she thought smiling. He'd come in her window again. Burrowing closer, Peyton threw a leg a thigh over Lucas's thigh and ran a hand slowly up and down the muscles of his back.

It took her a moment to realize that he was lying next to her so still he was rigid. Opening her eyes slowly, Peyton took in her surroundings. She wasn't at home in her bed. She wasn't a high school girl any longer. And while she was in fact with Lucas, he wasn't the boy that she had loved, but the man that she had left. The boy who had taken her heart so long ago was gone, and he wasn't coming back.

"I'm sorry," she spoke softly as she moved away. It was all that she could say. Lucas, on the other hand, said nothing. He waited until she was sitting with her back facing him before he moved himself.

He was always slow in the mornings. Add that to the fact that he had slept on a hard floor all night and he was practically moving backward.

In the bathroom, Lucas learned that his pipes had frozen overnight. A look out the small window in the shower told him that the snow was still coming down. He wasn't worried. It wasn't the first time he had made due.

He started to turn away, but caught his own eye in the mirror over the sink. He'd never been a man of vanity. He hadn't inherited that particular gene from his father. But he didn't like the way that he looked. His hair wasn't too long. At least, he didn't think that it was. It wasn't as long as it had been in the hospital when he'd first woken up.

Lucas rubbed a shaking hand over his jaw. It was one of the reasons he only attempted to shave a few times a month. He was afraid of cutting his own throat. He supposed that he could wait until the storm had passed to clean himself up, but it would take days for his pipes to thaw. He wasn't about to wait that long. There was water stored in the house for things such as this.

Peyton was in the kitchen when he lumbered in. They didn't speak, but their eyes met and held. They held for so long that Lucas was afraid that he was about to do something stupid.

Breaking contact, he took some water from the pantry and a small pot from under the stove. Peyton had built up the fire so he would have means to heat his water. Then he was back in the bathroom staring at himself in the mirror. The lower half of his face was lathered with shaving foam. He'd plugged the drain of the sink and in the sink itself was filled with water. Steam rose in slow curls from it.

Taking the razor in his fingers, Lucas clenched his teeth at the small tremors that shook his hand. I can do this, he thought to himself.

He put the razor to his face and for a second just held it there. Watching himself in the mirror he carefully begun to shave. He'd gotten to his third stroke when he nicked himself. He swore hotly, looking down as he washed the used foam from his razor. A thin, almost undetected line of blood was mixed in, and then it was gone.

When he looked up again and Peyton was standing there. Looking into his eyes in through the mirror as she behind him. There no breaking contact this time. They didn't speak for what felt like ages when really it could only have been seconds. She was leaning in the doorway of the bathroom, her arms crossed over her chest. It was when she pushed away from the wood that she finally spoke.

"Here," she held out a hand. "Let me do that for you."


	3. Chapter 3

A Second Chance at Happiness?

An OTH Leyton Short

By

AlexB

3

He didn't move, but she did. She didn't have to move far to get close to him. The bathroom was the size of a closet. Peyton didn't take her eyes off him. She wouldn't. He, again, had to be the one to break eye contact.

She stood behind him. Her head reached, just barely, to his shoulder. Reaching around, she took the razor from his hand. Lucas gave it freely.

They stood there for a moment. Peyton closed her eyes, breathed him in, and everything from their past came rushing back. She hadn't known what she wanted when she came here. But she knew what she wanted now. Peyton wanted him. She wanted Lucas. He was right. They could never go back. But they could begin again.

She pushed in front of him, forcing Lucas to take a few steps back. When he looked down at her, she knew that he was trying to put that wall up again. When he reached for the razor, she wouldn't give it to him.

"Can do...it my-my...my self...sel...f." He grit his teeth, closing his eyes briefly.

"I know that you can." That shut his mouth right up. The belligerence left his features. There was only confusion and apprehension there now. He reached for his razor once more, and again, Peyton wouldn't give it to him.

"Pey...Pey...Peyton,"

"Let me do it for you."

He shook his head adamantly. He couldn't have her this close.

"Please?" She watched his throat work when he swallowed. He didn't say yes, he didn't say no. Lucas only looked forward at the mirror. He forcing himself to see nothing, he waited.

There was the splash of the water as she cleaned the razor once more, then he felt the tool scraping under his chin.

He closed his eyes.

Lucas wasn't in the bathroom of his cabin anymore. He was in Peyton's bathroom two years earlier. They sat on the commode. Or rather, he did. She sat on his lap, facing him. They were so close he could feel her heat. He could practically hear her heart beat. She smelled so good, and her laugh. Her laugh felt so much to him like home.

"Lucas?"

He didn't want to come back, but he returned slowly. When he opened his eyes and looked down at her, he knew that she had been remembering, too.

"I need you to sit," she told him. You're way too tall, and-"

He didn't smile at the blush in her cheeks, but touched it with the pad of his finger.

He sat down on the commode right next to the sink. He kept his eyes opened. He refused to feel the shave, he wouldn't let himself remember. When she finished and brought a towel to his face, Lucas took it away from her. "Can...do...it." She let him, but she didn't leave the bathroom. Instead, she watched him. Not like she was waiting for him to screw up. She just watched him.

"Wha...wh-"

She knew what he was trying to say. "Nothing."

"Don...don't...do...th-that."

"What?"

"N-n-no...not let me-e fin-fin-ish." He said to her. "Don't...do...tha-at."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Wha...what...do yo-u want f-fr-om me?"

"Your heart."

He snorted. "What hea-rt?" He asked. "Y-yo-u killed...it."

"No," she shook her head. "It's still there. If it wasn't, this, today, yesterday, right now, would not have happened."

He wasn't about to believe that crap. She was here, but he hadn't asked her to come. The storm was what was keeping her here now. When it was gone, she would be too.

"Lucas, I-"

"Him."

Now she was confused. "What?"

He slapped the wall beside him in frustration. "I-I...can't-" he growled his impatience with himself. "C-ca-n't be...him."

"I'm not asking you to be."

"Never-"

"Lucas, you don't-"

"Stop!" Lucas washed his hands over his clean shaven face, and then pulled them through his hair. "Can-n't, Pey-ey-ton."

"Can't, or won't?"

_"Lo-oog,"_ he shook his head hard. "Lo-ok at...me."

"Okay," she said. "I'm looking."

Jesus, he wanted to strangle her. Right after he kissed that surly smirk right off her lips.

"I'm not the one who's running now."

He glared at her.

"I'm gonna put this all out on the table for you, Scott. So shut up and listen. Yeah," she told him. "I ran. I was just a kid, and scared to death. And even then I couldn't go far. I should have been there for you, but I wasn't, not the way that you needed me to be. How many times do you want me to say that I'm sorry, Luke? What's it gonna take for you to believe it? _Damn you!_"

_Damn me?_ he raged. "Da-am you!" He shouted back.

"Two years," she went on like he hadn't said a word. "Two years you had this...this hold on me that I just can't break. And I've tried, god knows that I have. I've tried to get over you, to move on. To forget about you, to forget about us, but it's kind of hard to give your heart to someone new when it's still in the hands of someone from before.

"So, if you'd kindly give it back to me, when the snow stops, I'll finally get out of your way. And you can get out of mine."

_What am I supposed to say to that?_

Lucas sat in the same spot long after Peyton had walked out of the bathroom. She was still in love with him? Was that what she was saying? She told him that he still had her heart two years after the fact that meant that she still loved him, right?

God, he sighed roughly. This was all such a huge mess. Why should he care? He shouldn't, because she had left him. He'd been scared, too, dammit!

_Peyton._

Why, why, _why?_ Why did that woman have such a pull on him? Why couldn't he just be free? She so obviously wanted to be.

Getting up from where he sat, Lucas took up his cane. He was tired of the damn thing, too. She just kept leaving it for him. It should have pissed him off, but it didn't. He limped the short distance to the living room and stopped.

Peyton stood looking into the fire. When she looked at him, there were tears in her eyes. They wet her cheeks. To hell with it, Lucas thought tossing his can into a far corner. If he couldn't be free, she damn well couldn't be free either.

He hadn't felt like he needed the help walking at all when had made his way to her. Lucas didn't take his eyes off her, and Peyton couldn't take her eyes off his. She could read it all on his face the man's intent, and she wasn't about to stop him.

Her hair was down, and that was good. He wouldn't have to waste the time making it that way. Burying his hands into those silky strands wrist deep, bring her to him, Lucas kissed her. Lucas kissed Peyton in a way that he had never kissed her before. Everything he felt, past and present, was right there for her to feel. Peyton had no choice but to take it, and take it she did. She took it, and she gave it all right back. Everything that she was feeling, Peyton made sure that he was feeling it, too.

_Either this was a new beginning, or it was finally the end._

He woke up to quiet. The wind wasn't howling outside, and the fire wasn't popping and hissing in the fireplace. It had gone out, but he wasn't cold. How could he be when he was with her?

It was a mistake, but damned if Lucas would be sorry for making love to Peyton. And that's what it was because he still loved her.

She slept on next to him. Her face was burrowed in his shoulder. He could feel her breath on his neck. The hand she had on his chest covered his heart. If he could lie there forever, he would. But Lucas had learned long before that reality always, always busted in. You never had to invite it.

It wasn't easy to slip away, but he managed without waking her. He didn't let himself watch her sleep, or he would be tempted to lie back down with her.

He loved her. Lucas loved her enough to give her what she wanted. He didn't know how, but he would give her heart back, and he would go on recovering. He was tired, damn tired, of feeling like he was half a man. He was tired of being angry all the time.

He missed his family. His mom. Keith and Haley. He couldn't go back to his old life, but he could make the life that he had now better. He didn't know how long it would take so he couldn't ask her to wait. Yeah, Lucas thought. When Peyton woke, she would get what she wanted. And they would both get what they needed.

She knew that something was wrong even before she opened her eyes. Lucas wasn't lying next to her. Could be that he was just up and about, but Peyton knew better. He regretted what happened between them.

Rolling on to her back, she looked up at the ceiling. The sound of the crackling fire was all that could be heard in what felt like an empty house. She'd laid it all out there for him, and she wouldn't be sorry about its outcome. Peyton had felt whole in a way that she hadn't for a very long time as she laid in Lucas's arms. If this was all that he was going to give her, if this was all that he was going to let them have, then she wouldn't cheapen the moment by calling it what it wasn't.

"Might as well get this done." She spoke into the quiet. Peyton had just pulled her jeans over her hips when Lucas stepped back into the room. "Hey."

"Hi." There was no regret on his face, only a fierce determination in his eyes.

"Lucas-"

He held up a hand. "You...sorry-" He didn't finish what he was trying to say because she was shaking her head. The look in her eyes told him that she wasn't just telling him what he wanted to hear.

"Are you?" She asked quietly.

"Ne-never."

Her smile was sad. "But you won't come back with me."

Lucas's face registered shock. Wait a minute, he thought. What happened? Did she still want her heart back? "Pey..."

"Don't you dare try and make this dirty."

"N-no," he stuttered. "I-I...don't-"

"What?"

"You...love...me?"

Her second smile was brighter than the first. "Yes."

"Sa-say...it."

"I love you, Lucas." She spoke taking a step toward him. "Come back with me."

"I can-can-can-t."

"Why not?"

"N-ot ready."

"Do you have to do everything so lone wolf?" She ignored the flash of irritation that that swept his features. "Why won't you let anyone help you?"

"I don...don...need i-it." Lucas took a slow step away from her. "I can...can take...care of-f myse-sel-f."

"No one doubts that, Luke." She said to him. "But don't you think that you're just being a little bit selfish?" Ignoring his warning glance, Peyton went on. "You mom is going out of her mind. Haley, who is frustrated to the point of being mad at you, has threatened to kick you door down and bring you back home kicking and screaming. And let's not forget Keith. Your uncle. The man who pulled you out of the water by the way, and breathed life back into you body."

He didn't need to be reminded of that. Lucas knew very well what his uncle had done for him. He'd been there. Standing outside of his own self watching at his uncle gave him CPR between sobs. No, he didn't need to be reminded.

Why couldn't anyone see that he was trying not to be a burden? He wasn't trying to hurt anyone. Lucas just needed to heal. He needed to be able to do this is own way, on his own terms.

"Ca-can't...go...ba-ack." He shook his head. "N-not...yet."

"Lucas-"

He ignored her impatience. "Te...te...You," He got out. "Tell...them...for...me."

Peyton shook her head. "Nu-uh. Hell no." She said jerking her hair up into a knot on top of her head. "You pick up the phone and tell them yourself."

"Peyton..."

"When the storm passes. I'll be out of your space, and you can go back to living your solitary hermit life. That much I'll give you. But you speak to you family on your own behalf. Or," she added. "You can just keep on not talking to them at all.

And the storm had passed. At least the one outside his windows had. Peyton had picked up and left just like she said she would when the roads became passable. She hadn't been back since. Not a phone call, not a letter. Nothing sent by a carrier pigeon. If he could find the need to boot up his computer, Lucas was sure that there wouldn't be an e-mail from her waiting for him either.

Served him right, he guessed. Lucas couldn't really fault Peyton for the words she said. She was only telling the truth, whether he wanted to hear it or not.

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since he'd last seen her. With his own two eyes anyway. The mind could do some really messed up things to a guy. Lucas swore that he could still smell her on his sheets. He'd washed that damn things and it was like she still there. Driving him crazy.

He'd done what she said though. Lucas had called his mother. He called Haley, too. And it had made him feel both like prized jackass and like his old self when she proceeded to tell him about himself, and what she would do to his person if he didn't get, "His ass off his shoulders." Yeah, Lucas thought with a shake of his head, it was just like old times. He hadn't gotten to speak to his uncle, and that was just as well. When they did talk, Lucas wanted it to be in person.

And that was why he was going back. At least for a few days anyway. That and having spent three days in a certain someone's company had changed him. It had him lumbering to his truck in an irritated huff. Just who did Peyton Sawyer think that she was, anyway? Did she think that she could tell him that she loved him and just leave?

Hell no.

That woman had some explaining to do.

He was lonely, and he missed the hell out of her. In the beginning, the cabin had been his salvation. Now, it was starting to feel like a damned prison. As he slipped from the cool afternoon air into the cab of his truck, Lucas thought himself a man out on parole. Some of his mom's home cooking sounded good right about now. And he would need his strength when he went toe to toe with one Ms. Sawyer.

There was still a good amount of snow on the ground as Lucas drove through town. Passing the spot where the accident had been, he forced himself not to look.

Parked behind his mother's diner, he sat for a second, taking it all in. The familiar sights and sounds of Tree Hill. He'd missed this, too. Gathering up his wits, he pulled himself from the truck's cab. Being careful not to slip on the ice, he made his way to the back of the diner. It was a slow go, but he could feel it.

He was getting better. He may never be one hundred percent, but he would get better. He believed that now. He wouldn't miss the limp and the speech impediment at all. It would be worth its weight in gold if Lucas could speak without sounding like a scratched CD.

The diner was bustling. It always was. His mom was the Michael Jordan of food. The tables were all full, and the counter was just about packed.

His mother stood at the cash register. She was ringing up an order while she talked to Keith. She was smiling, Lucas saw. Laughing actually. His uncle saw him first but said nothing. The wink between them was enough.

"Som-some-thing...smells...good." Whirling on her heels, Karen Roe laid eyes on her son and busted into tears. _Women_, Lucas thought, as he caught his mother to him in an almost strangling hug. _Always with the waterworks._

She held his face in her hands. "When did you get here?" She wanted to know, looking him over. "Are you hungry?"

Lucas laughed. "Ju-ust...no-ow. And are-are-aren't I...always?" He replied. Hell, he was so tired of chili he never wanted to see another can again.

He was just finishing his mom's soup when an arm caught him around the shoulders, then moved up to wrap around his neck. Lucas choked, then grinned when Haley, too held his face in her hands.

_All this and I haven't even shaved, _he grinned.

"Just making sure that it's really you, and not some pod person that has taken over your useless string of a body." If she was mad at him, he couldn't see it. "Have you seen her yet?" Haley took his silence as a "no." She nodded her head in the direction of the door. "You can still catch her if you-" she laughed when Lucas pushed away from the counter, nearly tripping over his feet.

_Nothing happened._ My ass, Haley thought shaking her head smiling.

"Playing matchmaker are you, Ms. James?" Karen smiled drolly as she dried her dishes.

Squinting her eyes broodingly to imitate Lucas, she said, "Nah," Karen laughed. Haley did too, then replied, "Just making things right."

He stopped using the cane the day that she left. He was still slow, but faster without it. Peyton was just getting in her car when Lucas finally got around the corner. He cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled. "Peyton!"

She couldn't hear him. She had her music so loud she was breaking sound barriers. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone. _Thank you, Haley._ He hoped that Peyton had her phone on vibrate and in her own pocket. Then, she'd at least feel it ring.

Peyton's phone number was on speed dial. Lucas pressed seven, and waited for the phone to start ringing.

_Pick up. Pick up. Pick up._

"Luke?"

"Turn...'round"

Her car had just turned the corner, so she had to have flipped one, because in that next second her car was coming back around that same corner not even sixty seconds later.

If he hadn't known better, Lucas would have thought that Peyton was trying to mow him down. She stopped just inches before plowing him over. The engine revved once before she cut it off. Shades covered her eyes. Taking them off, Peyton tossed them over her shoulder into the backseat.

Naked emotion.

She hid nothing from him, and he knew his couldn't hide anything from her. When her brow lifted, Lucas took that as he cue. He slid into the front seat and for minutes, neither one of them said a word. Then, "You back for good?"

"D-Depends."

"On?"

"You."

"Me?"

He nodded, and Peyton looked at him. "Don't come back just for me, Lucas, because I don't want you to." She said to him. "Come back here for you. I'm not going anywhere."

The words were like balm to his wounded soul, but he wasn't finished. "No...ot...just...for y-you." He spoke slowly. "For...me...to-o."

"What does that mean?"

He sighed, sinking back into the seat unconsciously running a hand over his face. Peyton smiled. He needed a shave.

"I'm...tired." He finally admitted. "I need...here. Nee...d...you." He'd been scared to death to even think the words, but they were out there now.

It was what she wanted to hear, but only partly. There was still something else. Those three little words that Lucas had yet to say. "Why do you need me, Luke?" He opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him. "Look at me when you say it."

He turned in his seat, unconsciously throwing his arm over the back. With his other hand, he reached out touching a finger to her chin. He started to speak again but stopped. It was a new feeling this need. Lucas's need for the woman across from him shook him to his very core.

Fisting a hand into her hair, he pulled Peyton into a kiss so heated, it made her light headed. Breathing hard, they rested their foreheads together. "Say it."

"Love...you...Pey-Peyton."

She kissed him this time. A muffled shrill of a whistle had them both smiling against each other's lips. They looked over to see Haley standing in the picture window of the diner grinning ear to ear. "Get a room!" She laughed.

Looking back at Peyton, Lucas grinned himself. "Sounds...like a...go-od...idea...to me."

Smirking, Peyton started her car. Sounded like a damn good idea to her. But to Lucas she said. "Don't start something you can't finish."

"You and...me. Ne-ever...finished." Lucas smiled. "To-gether...always."

_Together always,_ she thought. It didn't sound like a bad idea. Nope. Not a bad idea at all.


End file.
